drop my hand back down to my side.
“How’re you feeling?”
With a one-shouldered shrug, she looks back at the ground.
Come on, Blue. Stay with me.
Rocking back on my heels, I ask, “Have you ever heard of a safe word?”
She shakes her head, then peeks back up at me.
“It’s a word that tells me to stop. When you say this word, I do exactly that. I stop. No matter what. No matter the position. I stop,” I reiterate. “We clear?”
Her entire body trembles, but I doubt she even recognizes it as she whispers, “What’s the word?”
“Whatever you want it to be. Hell, it can be stop for all I care, but you need to understand the power of that word and that I won’t ever push you to go any further if you say it.”
Chewing on her lower lip, she hesitates before stammering, “Six.”
“Six?”
“Yeah.”
“Why six?”
“Sei in Italian is six.” Her voice is barely above a whisper.
It takes everything inside of me to keep my expression neutral when I feel like I just got kicked in the stomach. “Okay. Six it is. Ready to start?”
Her breath is shallow, but she forces herself to nod.
“Okay. I want to see where your instincts take you, so I’m going to grab you from behind. I want you to try to get me off you, then run away. You’re fast. If you can break free, then you can get away from your attacker.”
“So you’re telling me that I just need to…run away?” If she weren’t so terrified right now, I’d almost think she was making fun of me.
“You don’t want to fight with your attacker because when it comes to brute strength, you’ll rarely come out ahead,” I explain. “Does that make sense?”
“Oh. Yes. That makes sense.”
“And what’s your safe word?”
“S-six,” she stutters.
Grabbing her face, I make her look me straight in the eye. “I’m not going to hurt you, Q. I promise. You say six, and I’m off you in a second. Understand?”
Her lower lip quivers, but she nods in my grasp, and I’ve never been more proud. This girl is braver than she thinks. I just need to make her believe it.
I release my hold and drop my hands back down to my sides, then slowly circle her. “Good. Let’s do this.”
When I’m behind her, I pull her into a bear hug, wrapping my arms around her torso and beneath her arms. But she doesn’t move a damn muscle. It’s as if my touch has the power to completely disarm her, yet I haven’t even done anything.
“Q,” I growl. “Fight me.”
Her chest rises and falls in an unsteady pattern. I squeeze her tighter and force out, “I said, fight me, Q. Now.”
She’s paralyzed.
Releasing my hold, I make her face me before leaning closer until all she can see is my ugly mug a few inches from her gorgeous, terrified face. “Look at me, Q.”
A spark ignites inside of her as she holds my stare.
“Fight me. I want you to kick and scream. I want you to fucking claw my eyes out. I want you to try. Do you think you can do that for me?”
“I–I don’t know,” she stutters.
“Can you try? Please?”
Her breath is staggered as she releases all the pent-up oxygen in her lungs before giving me a jerky nod. “I’ll try.”
“And if you can’t take it—”
“I say my safe word,” she snaps. “I get it.”
“Good girl.”
Pulling her into another bear hug from behind, I snake my arms around her ribcage, then raise her a few inches into the air and yell, “Fight!”
She wiggles against me, kicking and screaming, but it does nothing to stop me from dragging her wherever the hell I feel like taking her.
After a few seconds of struggling, I let her go and step away to give her a minute to breathe. She’s seconds from a panic attack, but my chest swells with pride at the knowledge that she didn’t use her safe word. She stayed strong.
“That was good,” I acknowledge, though I’m lying through my teeth. “But it wasn’t enough to stop me from doing whatever the hell I wanted.”
“I know.”
“I’m going to grab you again, but this time I want you to listen to what I’m saying, then follow my instructions, and we’ll see if we can get you out of that hold. Understand?”
With another jerky nod, she gives me her back and waits.
Pulling her against my chest, I keep my grip tight but not suffocating. “If you’re in this position, you want to try to headbutt me